Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Selections from the Joseph Randall Shapiro Collection, December 20, 1969–February 1, 1970, no. 29, ill. in b/w, as "Scent of Apricots on the Fields".

1979 Chicago

David and Alfred Smart Gallery, University of Chicago, Abstract Expressionism: A Tribute to Harold Rosenberg: Paintings and Drawings from Chicago Collections, October 11–November 25, 1979, no. 11, ill. in b/w, pl. 3, p. 25, as "Scent of Apricots in the Fields".

1981–82 New York

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Arshile Gorky 1904–1948: A Retrospective, April 24–July 19, 1981, no. 243, ill. in color, p. 248, as "Scent of Apricots," dated 1947. Traveled to: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, September 12–November 6, 1981; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 3, 1981–February 28, 1982.

1985 Chicago

Art Institute of Chicago, The Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Randall Shapiro Collection, February 23–April 14, 1985, no. 64, fig. 51, ill. in color, p. 62; p. 110, as "Scent of Apricots on the Fields".

2009–10 Philadelphia

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective, October 15, 2009–January 10, 2010. (Exhibition catalogue: Taylor 2009a), pl. 122, ill. in color, p. 283; p. 390, as "Scent of Apricots on the Fields," [exhibited in Philadelphia only]. Traveled to: Tate Modern, London, February 10–May 3, 2010 (Gale 2010); Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, June 6–September 20, 2010 (Gale 2010).

2017 New York

Hauser & Wirth, New York, Ardent Nature: Arshile Gorky Landscapes, 1943–47, November 2–December 23, 2017. (Exhibition catalogue: Spender and Devaney 2017).

Literature

Levy 1966

Levy, Julien. Arshile Gorky. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1966. Monograph, pl. 201, ill. in b/w, p. 225, as "Scent of Apricots," dated 1947.

Chicago Tribune 1970

"Scent of Apricots." Chicago Tribune, January 1, 1970, ill. in b/w, sec. 2, p. 1, as "Scent of Apricots on the Fields".

Rathbone 1978

Rathbone, Eliza E. "Arshile Gorky: The Plow and the Song." In American Art at Mid-Century: The Subjects of the Artist. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1978. Exhibition catalogue, fig. 48, ill. in b/w, p. 86, as "Scent of Apricots".

Goldman 1979

Goldman, Judith. "Collecting in Chicago: 'Love Affairs with Art.'" Artnews (New York) 78 (February 1979), discussed p. 48, as "Scent of Apricots in the Fields," [b/w photo, p. 47 of Joseph Shapiro standing in front of P274].

Chevrier 1981

Chevrier, Jean-François. "Arshyle Gorky a New-York: L'Absence, les odeurs et les sons." Le Monde (Paris), July 11, 1981, discussed p. 17, as "L'Odeur des abricots".

Freedman 1981

Freedman, Adele. "An Artist's Descent into Death: Gorky's Early Years Were Chaotic, His Later Ones Were Even Worse." The Globe and Mail (Toronto), June 9, 1981, discussed p. 15, as "Scent of Apricots".

Sue et al 1981

Sue, David, and Derald Wing Sue, and Stanley Sue. Understanding Abnormal Behavior. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981, ill. in b/w, pp. 236–37, as "Scent of Apricots on the Fields".

Jordan 1982a

Jordan, Jim M. "The Paintings of Arshile Gorky: New Discoveries, New Sources, and Chronology." In The Paintings of Arshile Gorky: A Critical Catalogue, by Jim M. Jordan and Robert Goldwater. New York and London: New York University Press, 1982, discussed p. 85, as "Scent of Apricots on the Fields".

Jordan 1982b

Jordan, Jim M. "Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings." In The Paintings of Arshile Gorky: A Critical Catalogue, by Jim M. Jordan and Robert Goldwater. New York and London: New York University Press, 1982, no. 274, ill. in b/w, pp. 424–25, as "Scent of Apricots on the Fields".

Sims 1984

Sims, Lowery Stokes. "Wifredo Lam and Roberto Matta: Surrealism in the New World." In In the Mind's Eye: Dada and Surrealism, Terry Ann R. Neff, ed. New York: Abbeville Press, 1985. Exhibition catalogue, pl. 30, ill. in color, p. 104, as "Scent of Apricots in the Fields".

Lader 1985

Lader, Melvin P. Arshile Gorky. New York: Abbeville Press, 1985. Monograph, fig. 82, ill. in color, p. 84, as "Scent of Apricots on the Fields".

Spender 1990a

Spender, Matthew. "Origines et développement de l'oeuvre dessiné de Arshile Gorky / Quellen und Entwicklung von Arshile Gorkys zeichnerischem Werk." In Arshile Gorky: Œuvres sur Papier, 1929–1947 / Arbeiten auf Papier, 1929–1947, Erika Billeter, ed. Lausanne: Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, 1990. Exhibition catalogue, fig. 18, ill. in b/w, p. 35, as "Scent of Apricots on the Fields".

Ash 1995

Ash, John. "Arshile Gorky: How My Mother's Embroidered Apron Unfolds in My Life, 1944." Artforum (New York) 34 (September 1995), discussed p. 79, as "Scent of Apricots on the Fields".

Balakian 1996

Balakian, Peter. "Arshile Gorky and the Armenian Genocide." Art in America (New York) 84 (February 1996), discussed p. 109, as "The Scent of Apricots".

Tully 1996

Tully, Judd. "Auction Reviews: Contemporary Art." Art & Auction (New York) 18, no. 6 (January 1996), discussed p. 89, as "Scent of Apricots on the Fields".

Thomas 2003

Thomas, Kelly Devine. "The Most Wanted Works of Art." Artnews (New York) (November 1, 2003), discussed, as "Scent of Apricots on the Fields".

Theriault 2009a

Theriault, Kim S. Rethinking Arshile Gorky. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009. Monograph, pl. 22, ill. in color; ill. in color (detail), cover; ill. in b/w (detail), p. 162, as "Scent of Apricots on the Fields".

Notes

Commentary

Although Scent of Apricots on the Fields is identified as a lifetime title in Jim M. Jordan's catalogue raisonné, there is no known extant documentation confirming its origin with the artist.¹ We have, therefore, designated it as posthumous and reverted to the historical appellation, Scent of Apricots, in accordance with Gorky's last lifetime dealer, Julien Levy's (1906–1981), monograph on the artist, in which the work was first published.²If original to the artist, the title was likely decided upon by Gorky and André Breton (1896–1966) through a collaborative process of free association that they devised in the months preceding Gorky's debut solo show at the Julien Levy Gallery in March 1945 (see commentary for P287).³

The significance of the title is embedded in two written statements that Gorky completed for the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In one, a 1942 questionnaire, recalling his childhood home, Gorky remarked, "I like the wheatfields the plough the apricots the shape of apricots those flirts of the sun."⁴In a subsequent questionnaire, completed c. 1945, in answer to a question concerning what is relevant to an understanding of his art, he writes, "Perhaps the fact that I was taken away from my little village when I was five years old yet all my vital memories are of these first years. . . . Since then these memories have become iconography, the shapes even the colors: millstone, red earth, yellow wheatfield, apricots, etc."⁵ In an interview from 2010, Gorky's widow Agnes "Mougouch" Fielding (1921–2013) recalled that his "memories of his father's family's farm [in Khorkom (also spelled Khorgom, now known as Dilkaya, Turkey)] were happy ones. He always talked about the time before they had to move from the farm. It was the part of his life that he cherished. He told me about the cherry and apricot orchards, climbing trees, looking for birds' nests and swimming in the salty lake."⁶

1. Jim M. Jordan, "Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings," in Jim M. Jordan and Robert Goldwater, The Paintings of Arshile Gorky: A Critical Catalogue (New York and London: New York University Press, 1982), 424–25.

2. Julien Levy, Arshile Gorky (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1966), 225.

3. Julien Levy Gallery, New York, Arshile Gorky, March 6–31, 1945.

4. "Arshile Gorky: Text for the Museum of Modern Art Describing the Garden in Sochi Series," June 26, 1942, Artist File: Arshile Gorky, The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York. Reprinted in Matthew Spender, ed., Arshile Gorky: The Plow and the Song: A Life in Letters and Documents (Zurich: Hauser & Wirth Publishers, 2018), 255; a copy of the original typescript is in the AGF Archives.

5. "Arshile Gorky: Replies to a Museum of Modern Art Questionnaire," c. 1945, The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York. Reprinted in Spender, ed., 355.

6. Cosima Spender, interview with Agnes "Mougouch" Gorky Fielding, in Tate Etc. (Issue 18: Spring 2010), https://www.tate.org.uk/tate-etc/issue-18-spring-2010/my-gorky.

Related Work

Record last updated February 1, 2024. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.

Citation: Costello, Eileen, ed. "(Scent of Apricots), 1944, P274." In Arshile Gorky Catalogue Raisonné. New York: The Arshile Gorky Foundation. www.gorkycatalogue.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=2038 (accessed on April 25, 2024).